Bad tie rods

[redhat]

The vibration I had been experiencing within my steering wheel had once again returned. I had been ruling out suspension components as my mechanic/friend (when I don't feel like wrenching) assured me that all of my tie-rods, ball-joints, control arms, compliance bushings were good.

I thought, "I best examine this car myself". To my amazement, I was able to 'roll' my tie-rods back and forth with ease. There was no 'in and out' movement horizontally or vertically. I have had replacement tie-rods for a while that I bought cheap online. I decided to replace them.

https://youtu.be/B42hnqdoEFs

Above is a video of how they are.

Got an alignment and the car is way better, but still tracking down a small minor vibration. I will be inspecting my control arms/ball-joints today or tomorrow. Also have a metal on metal clunk. I am thinking either ball-joint or strut mount.

So I'm going to assume that any automotive ball and socket joint that does this, or moves freely without a tight greased feeling is failing or failed?

New tie-rods were tight and takes effort to move.

 

[zzyzzx]

I would have put off the alignment until after I had ruled out or fixed the other stuff, unless they will re-do it for free. I just replaced a single tie rod end that was just as bad, but in my case I got no vibration, only pulling to one side on acceleration and pulling to the other side on on braking. It was because I only had one bad side due to hitting a bad pothole on the highway.

 

[Olas]

Rods don't go bad, it's the joints on either end. Nothing wrong with replacing as preventative maintenance, but what is there to maintain on a threaded rod? Just replace the bad joint.

 

[Chris142]

Worn components will cause tire wear. They wont cause a vibration.

 

[Nick1994]

I think it's a CV Axle. My grandmother's 2011 CR-V has a slight vibration, I need to rotate tires but I don't think they're the issue, they're new. Seems better when letting off the gas pedal and worse when giving it gas. I think it too needs a CV Axle, but it gets short trips so I'm not worried right now.

 

[redhat]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I think it's a CV Axle. My grandmother's 2011 CR-V has a slight vibration, I need to rotate tires but I don't think they're the issue, they're new. Seems better when letting off the gas pedal and worse when giving it gas. I think it too needs a CV Axle, but it gets short trips so I'm not worried right now.


Axles are less than a month old. But nevertheless, could potentially be bad.

Originally Posted By: Olas
Rods don't go bad, it's the joints on either end. Nothing wrong with replacing as preventative maintenance, but what is there to maintain on a threaded rod? Just replace the bad joint.


Tie Rod Ends are what I replaced.

 

[TFBird]

My parents had a brand new axel put in last month, after a couple of weeks they were getting a bad vibration. Turns out it had a defect and it was replaced for free under warranty.

 

[silveravant]

A bad tie rod won't cause a vibration, but it will make an other vibration worse.